and so the road trip begins...

so today is the day i left minneapolis and hit the road...  first stop was aberdeen, south dakota to see my aunt robyn and my niece jimmi, who goes to school at presentation college.  yay jimmi!  and go saints!!

before leaving town, i downloaded the roadside america app - which wasn't free, but so far has been fun and worth it - to make sure i didn't miss any little oddities and quirky attractions along the way.  first stop, of course, was, the world's largest ball of twine in darwin, mn...

also saw a few other things that weren't listed in the app, but were still turn-the-car-around picture worthy... like this cadillac-ranch-carhenge wanna-be volkswagen..

and these awesome halloween hay bales.

got to aberdeen and had supper with jimmi and aunt robyn, then went and checked out jim's dorm/campus...  cruised around town and had to take a picture of the hitch-n-post because as a little (cow)girl, this was my favorite store in aberdeen...

we also spotted this "before i die" board
downtown so stopped to read and fill in...  i've seen these in minneapolis but never stopped.

our posts were as follows:

dawn:  buy an airstream and travel

aunt robyn:  go to hawaii

jim jam:  meet channing tatum

some of these were crazy, like "eat a dozen cupcakes, but only the frosting..." and the spelling on some was horrendous, but we figured it was due to the board being close to bars...








tomorrow it's off to eagle butte to pick up my nieces and then to rapid city to reunite w/ my lucy.

lucy moves to granny's...

last weekend, i took lucy to my mom's house to stay while i wander around the country trying to figure out what the hell i am going to do with my life...

because she doesn't travel well, the vet prescribed me a valium... err, correction - prescribed HER a valium.  i went to pick it up at the pharmacy and it was listed under lucy newbrough.  how cute is that?!?   so the morning we are going to leave for rapid, i crush up 1/4 of the pill per the prescription and put it in her food...  jump in the shower and by time i get it, she has already vomited it up on the rug.  so much for that.

packing everything up for the road trip, she knew something was up...  likely because it wasn't just my suitcase by the door; it was also her cat box, her toys, food, cat tree and her blanket.  when i tried to put her in the carrier, she fought me...  hard!!  i literally had to wrestle with her to get her in that sucker, but alas, we made it to the car and hit the road.  the trip was okay - she slept under the seat the entire time...

barely 12 hours at granny's house and that damn cat started scratching and biting under the box spring and before long, she tore open a hole big enough to get up in there!  i'm not sure what it is with box springs, but this is the third one she's tore into.

apparently, it's her "safe place," kinda like behind-the-washer is in the loft...  i just hope she doesn't get evicted by granny before i even hit the road!!

silly weird cat.  i'm going to miss her...

thank you mr. appraiser man

before i fully started planning this road trip, i wanted to make sure the sale was a go... ya know, so as not to jinx myself.  for that, i needed an appraisal that at least equaled the selling price otherwise the buyer could walk away.  

well, this email gave me the green light to plan:

Hey Dawn,

 

All anxiety about the appraisal is over! It came back at $160,000.

Thank you,

Katrina DeWit
Executive Assistant | Transaction Coordinator for The Grunnet Team
Downtown Resource Group
700 Washington Ave N #101
Minneapolis, MN 55401
C: 612.643.1521 (After business hours)
O: 612.206.3942
F: 612.777.8020

"Live the lifestyle!"

For all your Minneapolis condo and loft needs:  DowntownMplsLiving.com

yes! yes! yes!  i'm so stinkin' happy...  let the road trip planning begin - starting with these two awesome books:

red chandelier

so... awhile back - on somewhat of a whim - i decided to try and sell my loft.  i've been here for going on 9 years and it's a one-room situation, which is fine... for the most part... but for a girl who likes to rearrange furniture frequently, it's a challenge...   

another reason is the market has improved and i wanted to get out from under my mortgage just in case i decided to make a move.

somewhere.

anywhere.

red chandelier/swing - the key to my loft

welp, the loft sold within 2 weeks, but

the buyer wrote my red chandelier and

swing into the purchase agreement,

along with some other "personal property."

(man, i really love that chandelier...)

however,

the offer was a little more than i paid

which was what i hoped for,

so i accepted the offer.  

*closing date is october 25th* 

i'm not entirely sure what i'm doing

or where i'm going,

but i already quit my job...

woot! woot!

i'm thinking winter road trip, but i'm not sure what i'll do yet...  no biggie - i've got a whole month to figure that out.  ha!  all i know is something's gotta give because this middle-ager is freakin' bored!!